Northwest Prefecture, folded family, in the old lady's study.

The old lady leaned on her back on the chair, frowning with sparse white eyebrows, and her face was ugly.

Standing in front of the old lady Zhe, he knew that the ancestor of the Zhe family was unhappy, but he still stiffened his head and whispered: "Since the party members surrendered to Li Wujiao, although there is no war, the trade route connecting the Western Regions has been slowly interrupted, and the commercial tax that our family can collect is getting less and less, which is one of them." The second is that there are so many paddy fields in our prefecture, although there have been no wars in these years, however, there are more and more Ding men, but there are not enough fields, and there are fewer and fewer fields. ”

"Oh, according to what you say, it was Guo Huai from Lingzhou who robbed our family's business tax?" The old lady turned her head and glared at Zhe Deyan, and asked angrily, "Our Fuzhou is too peaceful, but the income is less, this is all the problem of others, you can completely get rid of it as a family?" ”

Zhi Deyan heard that the old lady was not good at speaking, so he hurriedly explained: "Our family's commercial tax is actually much lighter than Kaifeng, only five taxes and one, and the city gate tax has also been reduced to 50 copper coins per person, but the merchants just don't come." The son privately sent someone to inquire with the businessman, and the commercial tax on Shuofang's side was actually ten taxes and one, and in special periods, it was as low as twenty taxes and one tax. My lord, the profiteers in this world are all miscellaneous filths who can't afford to make profits, obviously our Fuzhou is closer to the Central Plains, but we want to go to Lingzhou. ”

Zhi Congruan really couldn't listen to it anymore, glared at Zhi Deyan angrily, and asked sharply: "What about Tian Fu?" ”

Zhe Deyan lowered his head, smiled bitterly, and said: "Our family's land tax is ten taxes and three, but Lingzhou is ten taxes and one, which is three times less." Not only that, Lingzhou updated and promulgated a land granting order, granting 30 acres of land to men and 20 acres to women. ”

"My lord, if you don't want to do it again, I'm afraid it won't be good. In addition to our serfs, even the lowly peasants who have a few acres of thin fields are all fluctuating, and many lowly peasants want to go to Lingzhou with their families. Zhe Deyan took a light breath, and then sighed, "If it weren't for my son's quick hand and ordering someone to block the border, I'm afraid that the lowly peasants would have run out." ”

Zhi Congruan rolled his eyes, and reprimanded Zhi Deyan angrily: "Since Li Zhongyi dares to reduce taxes, why can't our family reduce them?" ”

Zhi Deyan glanced at Zhi Congruan's face, and said cautiously: "Our family has expanded the army to 25,000 people over the years, which is 10,000 more than before. ”

From the perspective of the wealthy warlords in the northwest, Zhe Congruan understands his son's difficulties very well, and the foundation of the feudal town is all in the strength of the gun.

How to say it, as the power of Li Zhongyi's kid is getting bigger and bigger, if the Northwest Zhejia wants to follow Li Zhongyi to get a piece of the heavy pie, it is imperative to expand the armament war.

The most important thing in the expansion of the army is not people, but money and food. On this point, as long as you have a brain, you will understand the mystery.

It has long been known that the combat effectiveness of a group of rabble is far inferior to that of a small but well-trained elite army.

Historically, at the beginning of the peasant uprising, most of the leaders had very low cultural quality and short knowledge, such as Chen Sheng and Wu Guang.

When the country was disrupted by the uneducated and uninformed leaders of the peasant uprising, it was the turn of well-informed and high-quality careerists, such as Xiang Yu and Liu Ji.

Xiang Yu, from the famous family Xiang of Chu State, his grandfather Xiang Yan is a famous general of Chu State, he is a well-educated, very knowledgeable son of a great nobleman.

As for Liu Bang, he really has no culture, but he is well-informed, good at scheming people's hearts, ruthless, and knows what his followers need.

To evaluate Xiang Yu and Liu Bang in modern language, it is actually just one sentence: the big hooligan Liu Bang is ruthless and has no bottom line in doing things, but he is more down-to-earth than Xiang Yu, a big nobleman.

This so-called earthly atmosphere, in a word, is only the word profit!

In other words, no matter how bad the leader's personal morality is, as long as he promotes talents in an eclectic way and knows how to distribute the benefits to his followers, he will basically achieve greater or lesser success.

As a famous family in the northwest, the Fuzhou family not only has the same interests as Li Zhongyi, but also has a side that must be guarded against, which is also the political experience and wisdom mastered in the course of nearly a hundred years of struggle.

The monarchs of all dynasties, when fighting the country, naturally the more allies the better. However, when it comes time to sit on the country and divide the fruits, it has become inevitable to cut the domain.

Zhe Congruan is very optimistic about Li Zhongyi's future prospects, but this does not mean that he will easily give up the private territory outside the royal land of Fuzhou.

On the territory of Fuzhou, the name of the Zhe family is Zhou Chen, in fact, fools know that the old Zhe family is the real ruler. As the supreme ruler of the Zhe family, the old lady Zhe is even more constitutional, and a word can determine the life and death of the people.

As for the edicts and rules and regulations of the imperial court, in one acre and three points of land in Fuzhou, its effect is actually no different from a pile of waste paper.

In layman's terms, the old lady is the sky of Fuzhou, and the family is the high clouds in Fuzhou.

At that time, after a family meeting, the established policy that was adopted was adopted, and Zhi Congruan naturally did not say anything, after all, it was in line with the fundamental interests of the Zhe family.

The problem is that because Li Zhongyi's jurisdiction, including Lingzhou and Xiazhou, has wantonly promulgated a decree on the division of land, exempting the city gate tax and the poll tax, which has greatly affected the money and grain income of Fuzhou, this is in trouble.

"Da Lang, why don't we cut five thousand soldiers and horses for the time being?"

Zhe Congruan is good at scheming, but he does not understand the way of economics and management, Zhe De Yan inherited the mantle of the old lady Zhe, and is also a typical military general who does not know how to farm and do business.

"Alas, my lord, if we don't take advantage of the current expansion of our military strength, when Li Wuyi advances into the Central Plains in the future, our family will not be able to share any good things." Adhering to the insight of the military general's family, the principle that only with soldiers can there be everything has been deeply rooted in the bone marrow and is difficult to change.

Zhe Congruan narrowed a pair of old eyes, and couldn't help but think of a famous saying that Li Zhongyi once said: If you have a gun, you are the king of grass.

The reason is clear, the logic is correct, Zhe Congruan has long understood this, but it is not as concise as Li Zhongyi's summary.

"What then? Could it be that Guo Huai will not divide the land and not reduce taxes? Zhi Congruan laughed when he said this, "Where did Guo Huai get so bold to dare to make nonsense in private?" ”

In addition to being the eldest son, what is more important is that his insight, strategy and martial arts are far better than the rest of the sons of Zhe Congruan.

The problem now is that it is difficult for a good woman to cook without rice, and the family members do not know how to farm and do business, so the fun will be great.

Just when the father and son of the Zhe family were looking at each other, someone suddenly came to the concierge and said, "Old lady, Yang Chonggui, the eldest man of the Yang family in Linzhou, suddenly came to the front of the mansion, saying that he wanted to see the old lady." ”

Zhi Congruan looked at Zhe De Yan in disbelief, and Zhi De Yan didn't expect that the Yang family would suddenly send someone over, and it was actually a sudden door, and he didn't send someone to send a worship post in advance.

The famous families of this era have certain etiquette rules for visiting each other. For example, Yang Chonggui should first send someone to pay respects, and after making an appointment, he should go to the door of the folded house and visit the old lady, which is in line with the noble status of the folded and Yang families, otherwise it is extremely rude and disrespectful.

Even in modern times, in addition to hardcore friends who are extremely close-knit and familiar with informality, ordinary friends or relatives should at least make an appointment by phone in advance, right?

The Fuzhou Zhejia and the Linzhou Yang family, due to the need to huddle together for warmth, have been close political and military allies in recent decades.

It's just that because Li Zhongyi was born, he easily overthrew the hegemony of the Dangxiang clan in the northwest and conquered the entire Dangxiang clan.

After the Dingyan army in the hands of the party members completely fell into the hands of Li Zhongyi, the military pressure in the south that Fuzhou and Linzhou had been facing in recent decades disappeared almost in the blink of an eye, and they only needed to concentrate on confronting the Liu Han regime in Jinyang in the east.

There is no feast in the world, there are no eternal allies, only eternal interests!

Although Fuzhou is closer to the border of Liu Han than Linzhou, the boundaries of Fuzhou are mountainous, and there are many grassy beaches and lakes, and if Liu Han's soldiers and horses in Jinyang want to attack Fuzhou in the west, the geographical disadvantages that need to be overcome are far more difficult than those of Linzhou.

In addition, Shengzhou, which is close to the top of the Hetao to the north of Fuzhou, has also fallen into the hands of Li Zhongyi, and if the Khitans want to cross the Yellow River and march southward, they must first consider the counterattack of the Lingzhou army.

As a result, the strategic and military pressure of Fuzhou that was surrounded by enemies on three sides in the past suddenly lost two sides, and it only needed to guard against the Liu Han regime in Jinyang in the east.

The situation of the Yang family in Linzhou was much worse than that of the Zhejia in Fuzhou, and the military pressure on the north, west and south of the Yang family had disappeared, but if Liu Han of Jinyang in the east wanted to attack Xia and Ling Zhuzhou, he had to pass through the territory of the Yang family.

The problem is that the soldiers and horses of the Khitans stationed in Xijing Road have repeatedly cooperated with the Jinyang soldiers to advance westward, which has caused great military pressure on the Yang family.

In the past, when the Zhi and Yang families were close allies, they made an appointment with the baby, and after the fold and the rod, they married Yang Chonggui.

Who would have thought that the plan did not change quickly, and the Tuoba family, which had been raging in the northwest for decades and had been endangering the life and death of the Dangxiang family, was completely defeated by Li Zhongyi almost overnight.

After driving away the evil wolf of the Dangxiang Tuoba family, the Zhe family was only happy for a long time, and then realized a more serious new situation: the Li family Lingzhou army, which was several times more ferocious than the Dangxiang Tuoba family, surrounded the old Zhe family from three sides.

Although the party members, the Khitans, and Liu Han of Jinyang besieged the Fuzhou Zhejia and were used by the cunning Li Zhongyi, no matter what, Li Zhongyi had the merit of saving the Zhejia.

People in the rivers and lakes, involuntarily, although it is a cliché, but it is also a wise saying!

As the granddaughter of the Zhe family, Zhe Saihua became Li Zhongyi's wife very aggrieved, which was the decision of the Zhe family based on the basic political and military situation at that time, which was called marriage, which was actually a military alliance.

It's just that letting Zhe Saihua marry Li Zhongyi is certainly conducive to the fundamental interests of the Zhe family. However, the bad behavior of ruining the marriage with the Yang family made the old lady inevitably feel ashamed all the time.

Since then, the alliance between the two families has been weaker than before.

"The Yang family's eldest man came this time, I'm afraid there is a change in the east, right?" Zhe Congruan sensitively realized that the Khitans may have made a big move.

Seeing that his father had been looking at him, he shook his head and said, "Our family's throat has been staring at the movement in the east, haven't you heard that the Khitans have the intention of invading the south?" ”

Zhi Congruan felt that since he couldn't figure out the purpose of Yang Chonggui's trip, he simply didn't think about him, so he ordered someone to find Zhen Yuxun.

Zhi Yuxun and Yang Chonggui are the same generation, and they are the eldest grandson of the Zhi family, and their identities are equal, so it is more suitable for him to go to the gate to welcome Yang Chonggui into the house.

Zhe Congruan has lived for such a long time, he naturally knows very well that since Li Zhongyi became the grandson-in-law of the Zhe family, the intimate relationship between the Zhe and Yang families has long existed in name only, and it is much worse than before.

If Yang Chonggui put forward some non-trivial demands in front of Zhe Congruan, the old lady Zhe was full of guilt because of the original ruin, and he was really embarrassed to refuse.

The old lady got up and left, the excuse was also ready-made, the person was old, and his body was not as good as before, so he went to recuperate in another courtyard outside the city.

Zhe Congruan can go, Zhe Deyan is the head of the Zhe family, but he can't get out, so he has to go back to the main courtyard of the Zhe family, waiting for Yang Chonggui to come and visit.

With little effort, Zhi Yuxun accompanied Yang Chonggui to the door of the upper room, and Zhi De, who had been standing on the steps, stepped down the steps with a smile on his face, and greeted Yang Chonggui warmly while greeting him, "Tiger baby, I haven't seen you for a long time, but I miss me." ”

In order to contact the relationship between the next generation of the Zhe and Yang families, before Yang Chonggui was ten years old, as a quasi-grandson-in-law, he lived in the Zhe family for more than half a year, and the tiger baby was Yang Chonggui's milk name.

"The younger generation visits the uncle of the folded family."

Who would have thought that Yang Chonggui didn't have a close favor at all, and he folded his uncle with a hard voice, and Leng pulled the friendship between the two families away by 108,000 miles.

Where does Zhe Delan not understand, how can Yang Chonggui not complain about the behavior of breaking the family and destroying the marriage?

Although Yang Chonggui was angry in his heart and said angry words, he always felt ashamed in his heart, but he just didn't hear it, and said with a gentle smile: "Tiger baby and Dog Lengzi are small friendships, so there is no need to be so angry, or call me Uncle De, right?" ”

The difference between Uncle Zhe and Uncle De, even a fool understands the distance between relatives.

As a member of the Folded Virtue Fence and an elder, this is already an apology in disguise.

However, Yang Chonggui still said with an unchanged face: "Thank you for the love of your uncle, how can the younger generation be virtuous, and dare to break the avenue of dignity and humility?" ”

Come on, it seems that the Yang family has completely offended the light, and Zhen Deyan sighed secretly. When it comes to his heart, he is actually very reluctant to ruin his marriage with the Yang family, and wronged the only pearl in his palm to give Li Zhongyi as a wife to Lao Shizi, but he couldn't resist the old father's decision, so he had to pinch his nose and admit it.

You must know that no matter how big the so-called flat wife is, when she sees the wife of the main house, she must salute with tea.